It’s only been a few days since Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conwayjoined the Trump campaign in hopes of refocusing his freewheeling, fact-averse campaign and restoring a veneer of professionalism by Election Day. And Donald Trump’s new conservative-media messaging masters are trying—forcing the long-winded billionaire to read off teleprompters and edging him away from some of his most incendiary stances.

But no campaign reboot is capable of fortifying a campaign built on fictions. This time, the problem stems from the candidate’s wife, Melania Trump. In a report exploring the fate of the former model’s caviar-based skin-care line, Racked inadvertently stumbled upon a 2013 court deposition in which she said, under oath, that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

“Would you please explain to the Judge your formal education including what schools you attended and from which you graduated?” an attorney asked, according to a transcript pulled by Racked.

“I attended and graduated from design school, from Fashion and Industrial Design School and also attended, graduated from architecture degree, bachelor degree,” she responded. (I attempted to find the same section of transcript through court filings, but the documents online were truncated. I did find a portion in which a lawyer seemed to have just asked her about her education in an October 2013 deposition, since his follow-up question was, “between the time you completed college studies around 1992 until the formation of Melania, LLC in 2009, could you tell us about what other business activities you were engaged in?”)

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Melania’s degree, or lack thereof, has come under the microscope before. Earlier this summer, the Republican National Convention published a biography of the third Mrs. Trump, in its official convention program, in which she was described as having obtained “a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia.” Before her Web site was scrubbed entirely and started redirecting visitors to her husband’s page, the official bio on her site boasted the same credentials.

A number of reports, however, have suggested otherwise. Politico reporter Julia Ioffe, who wrote a profile of Melania that was ultimately derided by Melania herself, noted that Mrs. Trump had dropped out after a year. The New Yorker reported the same in May, and The New York Times in July. Both publications found that Melania dropped out of college, despite her claim to have received a degree.

To be clear, it doesn’t make much difference one way or another whether Melania has a bachelor’s degree in architecture or whether she never set foot in a classroom. She isn’t running for president, or designing anything, for that matter, so her exact accreditation means very little. It’s hard to imagine that any voter would deem her husband more fit to run the country because his wife had a design degree from a university in Eastern Europe. And Melania certainly wouldn’t be the first entrepreneur to have achieved success without graduating from college.

But the revelation that Melania may have lied under oath is concerning for two reasons. First, it points to the Trump campaign’s underlying tolerance for playing fast and loose with the truth—from the candidate’s repeated claims to have been against the Iraq war, despite documentation of his past support for the invasion, to claims about the size of his fortune (or hands, for that matter), to ongoing obfuscation about the breadth of his charitable donations.

More troubling is how Melania, despite repeatedly indicating she does not want to be a public figure, has repeatedly been hung out to dry under the campaign spotlight. In the most high-profile incident, Melania was pilloried when it became clear that the speech she delivered at the R.N.C. borrowed lines that First Lady Michelle Obama had delivered years earlier. A Trump Organization staffer appeared to take the fall for the mistake, but her statements still pointed the finger back at Melania (it certainly took all blame away from Trump or anyone else on his campaign staff). More recently, the campaign limelight cast a shadow on the legitimacy of her visa status as an immigrant in the mid-1990s.

Melania, who shuttered her Web site in the days following the Republican convention, tweeted in July that it had been taken down because it no longer accurately reflected her current business and professional interests. In recent days, Trump’s campaign has left a similar black mark on his daughter Ivanka’s business. The media pounced on reports that her brand has a licensing agreement with a company that reportedly does not offer paid maternity leave and hires unpaid interns—both choices that seem to fly in the face of what the #womenwhowork advocate says she stands for.

But Donald Trump winning was always more important than doing right by his wife or his daughter and their ambitions. After all, he’s a man who once called letting his wife work a “very dangerous thing.” By his own admission, Trump has, from the get-go, put his vision quest for the White House before his wife’s wishes. “She said, ‘We have such a great life. Why do you want to do this?’” he told The Washington Post in April. “I said, ‘I sort of have to do it, I think. I really have to do it.’ . . . I could do such a great job.”

College degree or not, Melania is sharp enough to have seen the bus coming straight toward her. It’s her husband who has repeatedly left her right in its path.

Ivanka Trump's Earrings

The simple oblong accessories framing Ivanka’s face are working overtime. Somehow, they’re highlighting the almond shape of her eyes and bringing out their chestnut color. Her hair seems even more groomed next to the earrings, her skin even more glowing. Someone give the earrings a raise.

Photo: By Tasos Katopodis/WireImage/Getty Images.

Willie Robinson’s Bandana

There seems to be no taming the Duck Dynasty star’s various forms of hair, but the attempt at least defining where his beard ended and his scalp began went a long way, especially since it was done in such a patriotic fashion.

Photo: By Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images.

Scott Baio’s Undone Tie

The child actor was so in charge that he didn’t even need to tie his tie in order to stand on the world’s stage. The look certainly helped explain to the audience why he was there in the first place.

Photo: By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Leslie Rutledge’s Suit Closure

A brightly colored suit at a political convention isn’t breaking any new fashion ground, but the Arkansas Attorney General added a little spice to the sartorial genre Hillary Clinton made famous as she was deriding Clinton on stage. Talk about power suit!

Photo: By Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

Natalie Gulbis’s Sunglasses

The pro-golfer sported shades on her head as she rehearsed for her remarks ahead of primetime. It’s unclear how sunny it can get inside of a completely closed-off arena, but anything is possible at the R.N.C.

Photo: By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Don King’s Jacket

The boxing promoter may have been yanked from the convention’s speaking schedule, but his embellished jean jacket said it all.

Photo: By Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

Donald Trump’s Spray Tan

It got hot inside the Quicken Loans Arena. The lights were blazing. The pressure was on. Bits of perspiration broke out on the Donald’s face. And yet, like a miracle almost as inexplicable as his nomination itself, his spray tan stayed put.

Photo: By Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Ivanka Trump's Earrings

The simple oblong accessories framing Ivanka’s face are working overtime. Somehow, they’re highlighting the almond shape of her eyes and bringing out their chestnut color. Her hair seems even more groomed next to the earrings, her skin even more glowing. Someone give the earrings a raise.

By Tasos Katopodis/WireImage/Getty Images.

Willie Robinson’s Bandana

There seems to be no taming the Duck Dynasty star’s various forms of hair, but the attempt at least defining where his beard ended and his scalp began went a long way, especially since it was done in such a patriotic fashion.

By Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images.

Scott Baio’s Undone Tie

The child actor was so in charge that he didn’t even need to tie his tie in order to stand on the world’s stage. The look certainly helped explain to the audience why he was there in the first place.

By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Leslie Rutledge’s Suit Closure

A brightly colored suit at a political convention isn’t breaking any new fashion ground, but the Arkansas Attorney General added a little spice to the sartorial genre Hillary Clinton made famous as she was deriding Clinton on stage. Talk about power suit!

By Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

Tiffany Trump’s Pageant Hair

The recent Ivy League grad impressed audiences with her poise. But equally as impressive were her bouncy, blonde, feathered waves, so pageant-worthy that it left us wondering when the talent portion of the evening would begin. She is the daughter of Miss Hawaiian Tropic International, after all.

By Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images.

Donald Jr. and Eric Trump’s tie knots.

The knots are unsubtle, bold, with a touch of a femininity. At least they’re staying true to the Trump brand.

Left, by Robyn Beck/AFP; Right, by Tasos Katopodis/WireImage, both from Getty Images.

Geert Wilders’s Hair

It is unclear why the Dutch politician was in Cleveland at all, but the nation is grateful to bare witness to such a superior head of hair. There may be a partisan divide over how to best bring jobs back to America, but let’s all now come to an agreement that we should be farming the hair growing out to the Dutch.

By Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

Marcus Luttrell Goes Tie-less

The Navy SEAL kept the audience rapt while sporting a more casual, tie-less, shirt-unbuttoned look at what was once a more formal event.

By Tasos Katopodis/WireImage/Getty Images.

Everything About Eileen Collins' Jacket

The retired astronaut blasted off the screen in this blazer in all its powder blue, bold-buttoned, shoulder-padded glory.

By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Melania Trump’s Sleeves, Shoes, Make-Up

If you told us Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write a musical about Melania Trump’s sleeves, we would believe you and ask how to score tickets to see it in previews. And then there were the Christian Louboutin stilettos, which she navigated like a dream. And the make-up—contouring expert enough to spark envy even in a Kardashian.

By Ida Mae Astute/ABC/Getty Images.

Natalie Gulbis’s Sunglasses

The pro-golfer sported shades on her head as she rehearsed for her remarks ahead of primetime. It’s unclear how sunny it can get inside of a completely closed-off arena, but anything is possible at the R.N.C.

By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Don King’s Jacket

The boxing promoter may have been yanked from the convention’s speaking schedule, but his embellished jean jacket said it all.

By Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

Donald Trump’s Spray Tan

It got hot inside the Quicken Loans Arena. The lights were blazing. The pressure was on. Bits of perspiration broke out on the Donald’s face. And yet, like a miracle almost as inexplicable as his nomination itself, his spray tan stayed put.